Name: Mari Yamamoto (originally Maya Norgaard)
Titles: She doesn't have enough renown to be granted titles
Gender: Female
Age: 22
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Objective for the Grail: Her wish is to no longer be wrapped up in the dangerous world of magic. Whether that means she wishes to rid the whole world of magic, or simply remove her own crest and circuits, she does not know yet.
Command Seal:
Personality:
At heart, Mari is an easygoing, positive person. She's sociable and loves to laugh, even if it's at her own expense - after all, god knows she's bit of a scatterbrain, and not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. She can be surprisingly blunt, mostly because she speaks before she thinks. But while Mari's no hero, she is a decent person; if someone needs help and it doesn't endanger her, she'll offer help readily and without asking for anything in return. Mari likes to daydream, and frequently talks to herself - especially whenever she needs to hype herself up, which has been tragically often as of late. She's meticulous about her appearance, and loves to pamper herself.
Mari has never been a particularly ambitious or hardworking person, nor one that takes competitions of any sort too seriously. It's not that she's lazy, she's just always been content with life's simple pleasures, and hasn't had the need to push herself out of her comfort zone. Winning has never been a big deal, as long as everyone had fun. Until recently, of course. The turmoil of recent events has left her far more stressed and anxious a person than she used to be, but it has also made her more determined and hardened. She still doesn't like the idea of hurting anyone, but she has to win her wish, and she can't exactly let others get in the way of that. Just... if they could give up when asked nicely, that'd be really cool, you know?
Bio:
From the age of five up until recently, Mari's life was mundane enough not to warrant elaboration. She grew up in a middle class family, had friends, did decently in school, and most recently started to work part-time in a coffee shop alongside her university studies. For the longest time, her biggest problem was trying to juggle studying, work and social life, and her biggest wish was to get a cat - one of those breeds that don't cause allergies. To her, the name Norgaard meant nothing.
But she meant a lot to the Norgaards. Though few in number and on the brink of being wiped from history, they are an old family of magi with a questionable reputation. They originated from Northern Europe, with a family tradition of galdrar, divination (seiðr, as they themselves call it) and, if rumours were to be believed, experimentation with magic circuit transplantation.
Twenty two years ago, Mari was born into their midst - though at the time, she went by Maya. She was to be the heir of Norgaards' magical knowledge, and her parents wasted no time in starting the engraving and training process to make her such. They never managed to finish what they started, however. Theirs was a family of ill repute, and shortly after Maya had turned five, a divination practitioner of the family received a disturbing vision; their mansion was to be attacked in a matter of hours, the whole family wiped out by disgruntled rivals.
Wanting to hide their heir, the Norgaards used magic to seal Maya's memories and arranged for her to be sent to safety. Only, the carriage was attacked on the way. Though the Norgaards were not entirely wiped out, many of their members died or disappeared voluntarily, and Maya ended up in an orphanage with no known relatives left to care for her. It was the Norgaards' intent to come get her once it was safe to do so, but much to their misfortune, she was adopted by a half-Japanese couple - who then subsequently moved back to Japan. Her adoptive mother was a therapist, and worked hard to try and cure her of her amnesia, but to no avail. Though she remembered her first name and basic life skills, she had no recollection of her birth family - just as the sealing magic dictated.
And so, Mari lived a happy, normal life.
That was, until two years ago, her past caught up with her. She found strange people at her door, demanding her to come with them. She refused, of course, but it mattered little. She was dragged away, the seal on her memories lifted, and her family threatened if she did not cooperate. It was then, on that dark autumn night, that she learnt of the existence of magic, magus, and her supposed fate as an heir to a family of them. She was forced to undergo training and the crest was finished forcibly - leading to one complication after another. Mari struggled, fought and argued, but threats towards her parents always quelled her anger.
It was during those torturous times that a volcanic eruption shook the country. In the midst of the chaos that ensued, few were surprised even if they happened to see her uncharacteristically depressed, tired or difficult to reach.
Recently, she was told of a war, and that she was supposed to win it. To wish upon the Holy Grail and restore their family to its previous glory. For once, Mari agreed. After all, she, too, had a wish - but it was not in the Norgaards' favor.
Magic Circuits:Switch: The smell of blood
Number of Magic Circuits: B
Quality of Magic Circuits: A
Elemental Affinity: Aether
Magecraft: General Magecraft - Mari knows the basics - the very basics, and still occasionally needs revision.
Galdrar - Rite-like spells used for various purposes in the past, including easing childbirth, creating storms and blunting blades. Unfortunately, Mari has mostly been taught harmful, curse-like variations, which she's reluctant to use. Her curses require incantations and either something belonging to the target, or a direct line of sight to them. Her curses mostly focus on affecting the mind; bringing about bouts of fear, madness, paranoia or other such altered form of consciousness, or simply affecting the mood to a hindering degree. The exact nature depends on the target, and tends to focus on enhancing already existing negative traits, emotions, beliefs or mental issues. The duration depends on how much mana she uses and how susceptible the target is, and varies from a few minutes to a few hours.
She's also capable of tampering with equipment; dulling blades and softening armour somewhat, as is tradition with galdrar. However this requires direct contact with them, and is therefore extremely risky to use.
One form of galdrar is gandr, which was among the first spells Mari was taught. Her shots aren't strong enough to be considered bullets, nor can they pierce bone. She is able to fire them very rapidly however, and they do hurt when landed on vital spots. If nothing else, they're quite a painful distraction.
Seiðr - Magic far older than Mari's family lineage, it was rediscovered by her ancestors a few hundred years ago. The magic is focused around telling and reshaping the future. Not something to be used on the spot, preparing a divination session takes time and energy, and leaves the user vulnerable; after all, if one is gazing into the future, they cannot see the present. One also cannot feel their body during these sessions, and therefore being injured in the midst of one could easily prove fatal.
Mari is able to see glimpses of things to come within a twenty four hour period, but what she sees varies greatly. Usually, she strives to focus her mind's eye with some sort of a catalyst; blood from a person who's future she wants to read, a picture of a place, a vividly imagined scenario she wants to know the likelihood of. The better the catalyst, the clearer the vision. Either way, she cannot directly alter the future through her visions like the ancient shamans could, and they serve purely as a means of reconnaissance. If she wants to change what she saw in a vision, she must do it the old fashioned way.
Crest: The Norgaard family's crest is engraved onto her back. There is conflicting information as to when the family was founded, but it's said their forefathers are from the time of the Kalmar Union.
Weapon:She has no weapons to speak of, but has taken some rudimentary martial arts classes and is, at the very least, very nimble.
wanderingwolf
Majoraa
Snowdrops
Crimson Flame
Abstract Proxy
Guardian Angel Haruki
The World
BrokenPromise
Digizel
TheMushroomLord
